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<h1 class="title">AxsJAX Frequently Asked Questions</h1>
<h2>Table of Contents</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="#sec-1">1 Introduction To AxsJAX </a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#sec-2">1.1 What Is AxsJAX?</a></li>
<li><a href="#sec-3">1.2 What New Opportunities Does AxsJAX  Open Up?</a></li>
<li><a href="#sec-4">1.3 What Are Its Accessibility Goals?</a></li>
<li><a href="#sec-5">1.4 AxsJAX Uses JavaScript --- Isn't That Inaccessible?</a></li>
<li><a href="#sec-6">1.5 Is AxsJAX Specific To Google Applications?</a></li>
<li><a href="#sec-7">1.6 What Are The Long-term Goals For AxsJAX?</a></li>
<li><a href="#sec-8">1.7 How Is AxsJAX Pronounced?</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#sec-9">2 AxsJAX Technical Overview</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#sec-10">2.1 What Prerequisites Does AxsJAX Assume?</a></li>
<li><a href="#sec-11">2.2 How Does AxsJAX Leverage W3C ARIA?</a></li>
<li><a href="#sec-12">2.3 What Google Applications Does It Presently Enhance?</a></li>
<li><a href="#sec-13">2.4 How Does  AxsJAX  Help Screen Reader Vendors?</a></li>
<li><a href="#sec-14">2.5 How Does AxsJAX Help The Evolution Of Access Standards?</a></li>
<li><a href="#sec-15">2.6 How Does AxsJAX Inject Accessibility?</a></li>
<li><a href="#sec-16">2.7 How Can Web Developers Experience AxsJAX Enhancements?</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

<h2><a name="sec-1">1 Introduction To AxsJAX </a></h2>



<h3><a name="sec-2">1.1 What Is AxsJAX?</a></h3>



<p>
Web 2.0 applications are  powered by AJAX --- Asynchronous JavaScript And
XML. AxsJAX leverages AJAX techniques to inject accessibility
support into  Web 2.0 applications.
</p>

<h3><a name="sec-3">1.2 What New Opportunities Does AxsJAX  Open Up?</a></h3>


<p>
AJAX techniques have helped Web developers create live
applications within Web browsers. The AxsJAX framework helps
inject accessibility features into these applications so that
users of adaptive technologies such as screen readers and
self-voicing browsers experience the same level of interactivity
that is now taken for granted by users of Web 2.0 applications.
</p>

<h3><a name="sec-4">1.3 What Are Its Accessibility Goals?</a></h3>

<p>Our  accessibility goals include but are not limited to:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
Discover and codify design patterns  for access-enabling AJAX applications.
</li>
<li>
Serve as a test-bed for implementors of adaptive technologies
in extending their tools to handle Web 2.0 applications.
</li>
<li>
Help discover and fill-in  gaps  in the various
standards  that deal with the accessibility of AJAX
applications.


</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="sec-5">1.4 AxsJAX Uses JavaScript --- Isn't That Inaccessible?</a></h3>


<p>
Web applications that use JavaScript have traditionally proven an
access barrier to screen reader users for the following reasons:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
Adaptive technologies cannot always interpret the meaning of
actions invoked via JavaScript.
</li>
<li>
Asynchronous page updates leave screen readers at a loss as
to what to speak.

</li>
</ul>A set of W3C specifications collectively refered to as 
<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/WD-aria-roadmap-20071019/">W3C ARIA</a> is addressing these issues. Though AJAX applications will
continue to remain unusable from legacy browsers like lynx,
there is no reason why they should remain forever inaccessible to
users of adaptive technologies.

<p>
Finally, JavaScript in the browser is a powerful mechanism that
has enabled us to turn the Web from a world of static documents to a
platform for deploying dynamic end-user applications. The primary
goal of the AxsJAX framework 
is to leverage these same advantages presented by JavaScript in
the browser to create flexible, powerful accessibility solutions.
</p>

<h3><a name="sec-6">1.5 Is AxsJAX Specific To Google Applications?</a></h3>



<p>
We are open-sourcing the AxsJAX framework early in its
development to foster a healthy community around the concept of
access-enabling Web applications by injecting accessibility
enhancements  via JavaScript.
</p>
<p>
AxsJAX  initially targets  Google applications. As we
discover design patterns that work, we are refactoring these into
common modules that foster code reuse. Notice that these common
modules are not Google specific, and can be leveraged to inject
accessibility enhancements to <b>any</b> application deployed on the
Web.
</p>


<h3><a name="sec-7">1.6 What Are The Long-term Goals For AxsJAX?</a></h3>



<p>
The long-term goals of AxsJAX  will be largely end-user driven.
This initial release hints at the type of end-user benefits that
can be enabled via such a framework.
Our goal is to create a healthy community built on an open
framework for enhancing the accessibility of Web 2.0
applications.
</p>

<h3><a name="sec-8">1.7 How Is AxsJAX Pronounced?</a></h3>


<p>
AxsJAX is pronounced Access Jax  to rhyme with AJAX.
</p>

<h2><a name="sec-9">2 AxsJAX Technical Overview</a></h2>


<h3><a name="sec-10">2.1 What Prerequisites Does AxsJAX Assume?</a></h3>


<p>
AxsJAX injects accessibility enhancements as defined by <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/WD-aria-roadmap-20071019/">W3C ARIA</a>.
The prerequisites for experiencing its benefits include:
</p>
<ol>
<li>
A modern Web browser like Firefox 2.0 or later that supports
W3C ARIA.
</li>
<li>
Adaptive technologies that respond correctly to the
accessibility enhancements introduced by W3C ARIA.
</li>
<li>
In particular, many of the enhancements injected by AxsJAX
depend on support for <i>live regions</i> a feature that enables
adaptive technologies like screen readers and self-voicing
browsers deal correctly with asynchronous updates to
portions of a Web page.

</li>
</ol>

<h3><a name="sec-11">2.2 How Does AxsJAX Leverage W3C ARIA?</a></h3>



<p>
W3C ARIA is a collection of specifications that is presently
under development at the W3C.
Early support for W3C ARIA is available in Firefox 2.0, and its
features are beginning to be leveraged by newer versions of
screen readers.
</p>
<p>
W3C ARIA works by enhancing the  DOM with accessibility specific
properties. The AxsJAX framework enables the injection of such
DOM properties into existing Web applications via JavaScript.
It provides a light-weight yet flexibile mechanism for
experimenting with various design patterns for enhancing the
accessibility of AJAX applications.
</p>

<h3><a name="sec-12">2.3 What Google Applications Does It Presently Enhance?</a></h3>



<ul>
<li>
Google Reader
</li>
<li>
Google Search 

</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="sec-13">2.4 How Does  AxsJAX  Help Screen Reader Vendors?</a></h3>



<p>
The set of specifications collectively known as <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/WD-aria-roadmap-20071019/%20GMT%3B%20Path%3D/ Set-Cookie:%20TPExits%3Dnull|null|null|10|null|null|%3B%20Expires%3DWed,%2001-Oct-2008%2022:22:31%20GMT%3B%20Path%3D/ Connection:%20close Content-Type:%20text/html%3B%20charset%3DISO-8859-1 ">W3C ARIA</a> is still
under active development. Applications that have been enhanced
via AxsJAX provide real-life examples for testing ARIA support
within new versions of screen readers. Thus, whereas individual
test-suites help screen reader developers test support for a
given feature, AxsJAX enabled applications provide live examples
for carrying out end-to-end testing.
</p>

<h3><a name="sec-14">2.5 How Does AxsJAX Help The Evolution Of Access Standards?</a></h3>



<p>
W3C ARIA is still under active development. By access-enabling
complete applications, AxsJAX helps in the development of the W3C
ARIA specifications by discovering what works and by identifying
gaps that  need to be filled.
</p>

<h3><a name="sec-15">2.6 How Does AxsJAX Inject Accessibility?</a></h3>


<p>
The AxsJAX framework  can inject accessibility enhancements into
existing Web 2.0 applications using any of several standard Web
techniques:
</p><ul>
<li>
As <i>bookmarklets</i> --- small snippets of JavaScript that are
used to create <b>smart</b> bookmarks.
</li>
<li>
Using GreaseMonkey --- a powerful browser extension that
allows end-users to customize the look and feel of Web sites
via custom scripts.

</li>
</ul>In particular, the accessibility enhancements provided by AxsJAX
are not tied to any single injection technique, and we  are
looking to the Open Source community to come up with additional
innovative means for  performing 
such enhancements.



<h3><a name="sec-16">2.7 How Can Web Developers Experience AxsJAX Enhancements?</a></h3>


<p>
The open source <a href="http://firevox.clcworld.net/">Fire Vox</a> extension to Firefox
provides an ideal tool for  Web developers who may not necessarily have commercial
screen readers available for testing.
Fire Vox is a cross-platform self-voicing extension to Firefox
that includes early support for most of the leading edge features of W3C ARIA.
</p><p class="author"> Author: T.V. Raman, Charles L. Chen
<a href="mailto:raman@google.com, clchen@google.com">&lt;raman@google.com, clchen@google.com&gt;</a>
</p>
<p class="date"> Date: 2007/10/30 14:35:13</p>
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